Goodbye Beloved Gladys

My beloved Gladys, is my Macbook Pro that I got as a sophomore in college (Thanks Mom and Dad - it was a great purchase), mind you I have since graduated from college and a 4 year Masters program, and am now in year 3 of my job. Sooooo as you can clearly do the math - it is time for a new computer. Blah. Seriously. I LOVE Gladys.

What's that - you don't name your computers?! I had to. During all of my years in school Gladys was my constant companion, we spent copious amounts of time in the library together, we edited thousands of photos together, we listened to countless hours of music, we wrote emails, navigated the world of Facebook, and together we discovered Pinterest.

She has been wonderful. I love her.
I am still attempting to revive her, mostly because I want to get my music off of her, I (THANKFULLY) have all of my photos backed up online (Thanks Shutterfly), and there are a handful of documents I would like to retrieve, my undergrad and graduate thesis (however, I have the hard copies, I would love the electronic copies), I also have a few crochet patterns and recipes on there.
Dear Gladys, please start up one last time.


Now, I am off to drool at new Macbooks and look at our budget to make sure I have cash there to order one.


What kind of a computer do you use?
Are you loyal to any particular brand?
Has your computer ever crashed and you couldn't get everything off?

Eight Months as a MRS.

The Good:
-we got to take an amazing vacation to Mexico
-we are getting closer to getting people to come and work on our basement projects
-we have gotten through many books this winter due to the crazy cold
- we have been working our building our chicken coop - our chicks are suppose to arrive the first week of April
- being trapped inside we have great opportunities to try new recipes- lately I have been on a bake my own bread kick (delightful)

The things no one warns you about:
-two people can have very different understandings of what clean is in terms of the house (although we now are on the same page)
- we are dying to get outside and are crawling the walls (much like the rest of the Midwest) and we like everyone else get a little cranky when cooped up inside
- I hate running on a treadmill, please show up spring
- I fear my computer has died & we haven't saved up to buy a new one - suck! - now attempting several things to get it back up and running and also massively starting to save for a new one - we need at least one working computer - (confession - my beloved macbook is 8.5 years old)

The Misc. Things:
- Dakota is also going crazy not getting her good and long walks in (toooooo cold)
- I was in St. Louis for work last week and it was marvelous (post coming soon)
- the Olympics have begun - love them
- I am annoyed we have to save for a new computer when I was hoping to put that money towards doors or a bathtub/shower for the basement



How old is your computer?
What kind of a computer do you use?
How are you combatting this ridiculous winter?

iPad

Sad Story: my laptop (Gladys - I named her in the midst of thesis writing in undergrad - because I was spending so much time with her and somehow it stuck - which makes me giggle now) - is from my sophomore year of college (2004) - she is getting old in the computer world, but she still works - her major default is her battery life is less than stellar and so any time I want to use her not plugged in I only have about an hour before the battery will be dead - she runs a little slow - but still runs well - and I love her - I know all the short cuts on my trust macbook, I know where things are saved, what programs she has, and her quirks. I am not ready to replace her (although I have started saving up for a new one - I haven't told Gladys this yet though - I don't want to be caught computerless and have no funds to get a new one).

True Story: I am cheap. I don't like to spend money on frivolous things (like a new computer when Gladys works just fine). My uncle every year for Christmas gives my brother and I $100 in Best Buy Gift Cards, there have been years in which I have gone out and bought things such as movies, video games, kindle gift cards, camera memory cards, camera equipment, etc. and in my later years I have learned the joys of saving up my gift cards and getting something even more wonderful, several years back I bought my wii with said gift cards (I LOVE my wii - games, amazon prime, and netflix). The past few years I have just been hording my gift cards questioning what I would buy with them, slightly debating a computer, but knowing that would take me a lot of years to get enough gift cards to get a new macbook, this year after we got our gift cards, it struck me, I was going to buy a iPad. This would extend the life of Gladys because I could use Gladys for certain things and my iPad would cover many needs that Gladys was starting to slack on. So I bought an iPad - I named her Ethel (sounded like a name of someone who would be good friends with Gladys).

Several people have asked what apps I currently love soooo here is my list: (please note above true story, I am cheap so generally I love free apps) (apps are in no particular order)

• Pinterest
• Pandora
• LOVE having access to music all the time
• Facebook
• TripAdvisor
• Super handy when on trips
• Instagram
• BBC News
• Pages
• SBR Speeds
• Remember the Milk
• my favorite to-do list app
• ELCAYMNET
• Google +
• Bible
• Songsterr
• Wikiweb
• was a free Starbucks app at some point - I actually use it quite a bit
• Where's my Water?
• Bejeweled Blitz
• Cook DASH
• Temple Run (Brave edition)
• Words with Friends
• Spider Solitaire
• Yahtzee
• Battleship
• Candy Crush
• Ruzzle
• Draw Something
• love this game
• Fruit Ninja
• Monsters Run
• Pages
• Blogpress
• I often blog from this app
• CaringBridge
• Love this app
• Amazon
• Shutterfly
• sort of a worthless app - it doesn't do a whole lot -I am often tempted to delete it but I keep hoping that they will come up with a way to work on photobooks from the app - it hasn't happened yet
• Twitter
• Amazon Prime
• Netflix
• yes please
• YouTube
• TLC
• ABC player
• yes please
• PBS
• IMDB
• I like information so I have a great appreciation for being able to have movie trivia at my fingertips
• AllRecipes
• perfect for when I am in the kitchen
• ScoreCenter
• LionBrand
• YAY crocheting patterns at my fingertips and no longer having to print out every single pattern I want to use
• Slide Shark
• super helpful for work and presentations

What apps do you use? 

Do you have any app recommendations that I don't have?